CHAPTER XI. 



CASS AND MENARD COUNTIES. 



The two counties of Cass and Menard, which are described in this chapter, 

 are situated contiguous to each other in the western central portion of the 

 State. Cass county, the largest of the two, is bounded on the north by Mason 

 county, on the east by Menard county, on the south by Morgan county, and on 

 the west by the Illinois river. The remaining boundaries of Menard county 

 are Mason and Logan counties on the north and east, and Sangamon county on 

 the south. The superficial area of Cass county is about four hundred and 

 sixty square miles, of Menard county about three hundred and eleven, thus 

 forming an aggregate area for the whole district of about seven hundred and 

 seventy-one square miles, or very nearly twenty-one and a-half townships. 



The surface of the country is, for the most part, gently undulating, becoming 

 hilly and broken only along the courses of the streams. In the western part 

 of Cass county, along the Illinois river, there is a strip of bottom land, varying 

 in width from three and one-half to five miles. This extends also along the 

 Sangamon river on the northern border, and through the eastern part of this 

 district, gradually, however, becoming more narrow and interrupted until, 

 through the greater part of Menard county, the bottoms are seldom more than 

 half a mile broad. 



The soil of the prairie portion of these counties is the same as that in the 

 whole of this portion of the State, a dark colored loam, with a lighter colored 

 clay sub-soil. On the ridges and bluffs which skirt the streams, we find this 

 sub-soil everywhere, except upon the Loess formation, exposed at the surface of 

 the ground, and generally bearing a heavy growth of timber. On the bottom 

 lands, the soil is an alluvial arenaceous loam, and, excepting in localities where 

 the sand too greatly predominates, is an excellent and productive soil. The 

 principal kinds of timber upon the uplands are, the common varieties of oak 

 and hickory, with elm, sugar-maple, black and white walnut, linden and various 

 other species which are rather less frequent. On the bottoms we find willow, 

 ash, sycamore, cottonwood, etc., in addition to some of the before mentioned 

 species, forming a considerable proportion of the timber. The proportion of 

 prairie to wooded land in the whole district is probably nearly two to one. 



